Scientology Press Office

After more than 65 years of totalitarian communist rule, the economy in the former Soviet Union was a disaster.

With the purpose of creating a sane and stable world in which productive individuals are able to prosper, the Hubbard College offered training and materials the Russian people urgently needed to survive the economic transition.

Those attending this first conference were impressed with the program the Hubbard College offered, but it turned out they were not the first Siberians to find out about L. Ron Hubbard. In fact Mr. Hubbard already had a reputation for helping people in the region.

Here is the story of what occurred, as told by one of the conference leaders:

It was February in a remote Siberian town and the temperature was an unbelievable minus 47 degrees Centigrade. Even vodka will not pour at that temperature and most of the 350 people attending this event wished they had some, if only to counteract the cold.

The event was the grand opening of the first Hubbard College in Siberia and the first time the attendees had heard of L. Ron Hubbard. Or so we thought.

Picture yourself being in one of these large Russian-style lecture halls. One used by the local "comrades" for both political and social gatherings and where the temperature in the hall is only somewhat warmer than outside. Now look to your right and you may be able to detect a weak sun attempting to shine through the ice-coated windows — but you'll have to look fast, as the sun will only be above the horizon for an hour or two.

Here, the Hubbard College of Administration of Moscow, which had trained a group of Russians to open and operate the Hubbard College of Siberia, was holding a grand opening celebration. The hall was filled to capacity for a two-day event.

The grand opening was a complete hit and toward the end of the conference the master of ceremonies invited those who had studied Mr. Hubbard's works to come to the microphone and share their experiences with the other attendees.

Among those walking to the front of the auditorium, was an elderly woman we didn't recognize. The conference director asked me, "Who is that?" But I had never seen her before and wondered who she was myself, and what she was planning to say to this huge audience.

She introduced herself as a retired school teacher from a small village in the most remote corner of Siberia. She explained that eight days earlier she had received a newspaper in the mail containing an article about the upcoming opening of the Hubbard College and wondered, "Could this possibly be the same Mr. Hubbard?"

Her story began in the 1970's when she was appointed to a delegation of teachers who were to attend a State-sponsored educational symposium in Communist East Germany. While there, she got a pass into West Berlin and was eager to shop for clothes and appliances she could never hope to find in Russia.

But while she was looking at the display window of a women's clothing store, she was approached by someone who was selling copies of a book - the German translation of "Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health" by L. Ron Hubbard.

She purchased it, began reading, and spent most of the day on a park bench, completely engrossed in the book, which had suddenly become more important than her long-awaited shopping spree.

She realized she had in her hands an important work; one the repressive "authorities" would probably object to. She made up her mind to smuggle it back to her small village where she was the senior teacher.

She went on to tell the audience how she read every line of the book about ten times to make sure she fully got it. It gave her an entirely new level of understanding of people.

She then described what happened on her return to Siberia: how after auditing* her husband for some hours, he was no longer the hopeless alcoholic he had been when they began. In fact he completely recovered. From there she helped factory workers, miners, farmers and their families overcome any number of disabilities.

Her pupils were no longer absent throughout the winter months where 30% absenteeism had been normal before. And their grades soared way above the national average.

As one might guess, she became the subject of an investigation. No one had ever achieved such academic and attendance improvements and they wanted to know why.

When the authorities arrived, she told them about her methods and explained what she did and how she achieved such stellar results. They asked where she learned to do these things and she promptly produced her well-worn copy of the Dianetics book.

This created quite a stir and, as she had anticipated, the officials confiscated the book and strongly reprimanded her for using "unapproved" material in her school.

She looked on as they departed with just the right amount of "anguish." But she was grinning when she got back to her home and pulled out what she had safely hidden - her hand-written copy of the Dianetics book - the copy she had translated into Russian herself, and which she had been using to teach others in the village how to use this technology. In fact she had made five copies, anticipating this moment, and had them hidden throughout the village in friends' homes and farms.

She explained to the audience that when she saw Mr. Hubbard's name in the newspaper, she somehow knew it was the same Mr. Hubbard. She told the people in her village and they all chipped in so she could make this trip in the dead of Siberian winter, riding for days by truck, rail and bus just to say thank you from the grateful people of her village.

* auditing: the application of Dianetics or Scientology processes and procedures to someone by a trained auditor. An auditor is a person trained and qualified in applying Dianetics and/or Scientology processes and procedures to individuals for their betterment; called an auditor because auditor means one who listens.

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